Kurt Thornburg, of Traverse City, said he was headed back from Cadillac on Wednesday when he noticed a van coming toward him on state highway 113 with a fire burning in the rear passenger side.
He waved to the driver as she passed and turned around to stop and help.
By the time Thornburg got to the van, another man who stopped had pulled the woman into her wheelchair in the vehicle's passenger side. The men eased the woman and her wheelchair to the ground.
``Within a matter of minutes, it was engulfed. I was really surprised how fast the van went up,'' Thornburg told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Jim Carroll, public education officer with the Grand Traverse County fire department, credited the two rescuers with saving the woman's life.
Carroll said the fire started because of a flat tire near the vehicle's gas line.
Information from: Traverse City Record-Eagle
